Arithmetic alla Aliev: Where Do Those 20 Percent Come from?

Recently the Head of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration Ali Hasanov, speaking at country’s National Academy of Sciences, made an announcement that 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory, including the 132 km long Iran-Azerbaijan border and 733 km of the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan are under “occupation” of Armenian Armed Forces.

Leaving aside the discussion of the word “occupation,” let’s try to figure out and check the numbers by Hasanov.

20 percent

Hasanov, in fact, is not the only one who claims that the Armenian side has taken 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory. For the first time this figure was announced by Heydar Aliyev, in 1994.

The total area of internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan Republic (including Artsakh) is 86,600 square kilometers. The total area of the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh (including the territories controlled by the NKR) is 11,500 square kilometers.

It takes simple math to easily calculate that only 13.3 percent of Azerbaijani territory, instead of 20 announced, is under Armenian control.

733 km

The border, which according to Ali Hasanov, is “occupied”, is in fact the Armenia-Nagorno Karabakh border (the sector of former Armenian SSR and Azerbaijani SSR border, controlled by Armenian forces now)

It is not difficult to count on each map that the length of the border is not 733, but about 390 km. Consequently, Mr. Hasanov’s number is far from reality.